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25th Jul 2016

Renewing your Irish passport will be a lot easier from next year onwards

Conor Heneghan

Irish passport

Great news.

Irish citizens living anywhere in the world will be able to renew their passports online from as early as the first quarter of 2017 onwards.

According to a report in The Irish Times, the Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed plans for an online application that Irish citizens living at home and abroad can avail of to renew their passports.

Soon, there will be no more rushing to the Passport Office just before holidays, which, of course, is excellent news.

leorunning

The report suggests that a service allowing for passport renewals could be in operation as early as the first quarter of 2017, with a full service available for all applicant types by early 2019.

This most welcome development comes in the wake of the Passport Office having to employ hundreds of temporary staff to deal with the huge increase in applications for Irish passports following Britain’s exit from the European Union last month.

Two request-for-tender notices were recently issued by the Department for Foreign Affairs for technology solutions to facilitate the new online application process.

The new service is part of a major reform programme worth £18.6 million for the Department of Foreign Affairs (including €4 million for the passport service), announced last year.

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